Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

I went quickly to the 1st floor of the Odoriji spire, the Adventurers’ Guild.

The bar inside the Guild was filled with people. I caught sight of Irvin's back so I went to join him.

I met his eyes quickly as a greeting. There were many other faces that I recognized.

「Am I late?」

「No, you’re just in time」

Everyone’s gaze was focused on a small-sized young man.

He was a beautiful-looking boy that elder-sister-types who liked those younger than them would want to pounce on. Small wings that were like ornaments grew from his back.

「23 people, huh? Well, that should probably do」

Even though he looked like that, he was the President of the Adventurers' Guild.

He was one of the many people in this world who couldn’t be judged based on appearances.

「Today, the Adventurers' Guild will make an announcement about the monster that appeared on the 11th floor.

It has been confirmed to be a newly-discovered species of monster that doesn’t match anything in the spire’s upper floor library, The Tales of Lemuria’s Adventures, Vindoobunikuru and Rasta Oru Razva’s knowledge. It will be named Dragon-Tortoise Midoranga, and it’s designated as a new evil title」

Evil title, a designation that’s given to monsters, means that the monster is a bounty target.

Enemies that get in the way of the adventuring business, enemies with a special ecology that reproduces at an abnormal rate, enemies that are a priority target for adventurers, there are various reasons for designating a monster with an evil title, but every single one of them were strong opponents and cheap adventurers would only be heading to their deaths if they tried to fight them. And if it’s subjugated, the king would bestow an extraordinary reward. That reward would lead to fame.

A stir spread through the crowd like a ripple.

「The reason this happened is thought to be due to overhunting carried out on the 10th floor. Due to the disturbance in the ecosystem, the great king tortoise mutated, and became an organism that’s close to a dragon. Unnecessary killings will invariably lead to a downpour of misfortune for you later. All of you make sure to bear that in mind」

A villainous-looking smile appeared on the Guild President’s face.

「Now, most of the adventurers here are those whose deepest floor reached is the 15th floor or less. I’m going to tell you why I summoned all of you. I’m giving all of you the permission to subjugate this Dragon-Tortoise Midoranga first.

All of you will have three days grace.

Once that has passed, it’ll probably be stolen from you by the advanced adventurers who want to hunt it. The opponent is strong, and isn’t a trivial monster. However, an evil title rarely appears on such low floors. This is your chance to gain fame. Details will be posted on the quest board. I hope that all of you will consider it carefully and challenge it. However, value your lives. That’s all」

The Guild President left, and at the same time, the other adventurers broke into a run as they scrambled to be the first out the door.

No one was left except for Irvin and me.

Most of the people here were party leaders. They had probably run off to inform their members of this information.

Everyone was driven by ambition.

「So, what do we do?」

I took a seat in the bar and pondered Irvin’s question. He sat down facing me.

Well, it’ll be tough using physical attacks.

Normal arrows won't scratch it. Even Shuna’s sword likely can’t cut through that shell. The strength of its scales is unknown. It’s uncertain whether we can cause mortal wounds even if we use the Misuranika arrows. Besides, those arrows cost too much money. If I pay no heed to that and overuse them, adventuring itself will become impossible, and even if we start to manufacture them now, making six of them will be the limit anyways. On top of that, it’ll take every coin I own.

So, magic?

If Rana’s magic power recovers completely within the limit of three days, then there’s a chance.

The magic in this world is largely split into two major factions.

Those who extol that magic is something that obeys the workings of people: The Jumikura School.

Those who extol that magic is destruction that surpasses the realm of mortals: The Hohens School.

The Hohens School that Rana studied under is a very active militant organization of magicians. They are also known as the Wise Brain Collective. Their magic is ridiculed as murder magic, massacre magic, devastation magic, and so on.

According to Zenobia, it seems that the Doragubein that Rana used is a magic that imitates the breath of a dragon, is so advanced that even the royal magicians can’t use it, and what’s more, is originally a magic that produces flames that can reduce an entire floor to ashes that Rana had compressed into a small-scale magic through an incomprehensibly advanced method.

She is very cute, she has extremely big boobs, a great magician. A haiku without excess syallbles.*

In other words, my wife is amazing.

We’ll have to rely on Rana, huh?

But I don't really want to do that. I don't want to work her too hard. Looking at things with a long-term perspective, it's unclear what effects running out of magic power excessively will have on her. There are even rumors on the streets that it causes premature death.

「I…… can't give an answer immediately……」

After thinking it over for a somewhat long time, I apologized.

「I'll give you an answer tomorrow, but what does Irvin want to do?」

He probably wants fame, doesn’t he?

「For me, ………………………………………………………………………………………………」

Irvin went rigid.

I ordered drinks for two and took it easy.

Irvin hadn’t moved an inch.

I downed the lukewarm, slightly sweet fruit juice.

Couldn’t something be done a bit more about this? I can't drink milk because I’ll get a stomachache, and I'm also bad with alcohol. On the whole, tea tastes sharp and bitter. There are too few beverage choices in this city. I wonder if everyone else is fine with anything as long as they can drink alcohol.

「………………………………Oh, I want to challenge it」

His reply had taken forever.

Was he a guy who took so long to respond? Was there something on his mind?

Irvin continued.

「With that said, I can’t think of any way to fight that monster at all. I’m okay when it comes to protecting everyone with my shield, but defeating it is beyond me」

「I share your sentiments. But―――」

「Irvin!」

Just then, a voice boomed from behind me.

Irvin turned towards the direction of the voice with a wondering expression on his face.

「Varner-sama?」

His face lit up like a child and he got up from his seat.

A bad feeling came up from behind me.

「To think that you’ve also come here! Are you in good health? What’s the deepest floor that you’ve reached at the moment?」

「Yes, I'm doing alright somehow. I just reached the 11th floor the other day」

An armored young man and Irvin embraced each other in a friendly manner.

A rugged man stood quietly behind them, and when our eyes met, he frowned a little.

All three of them wore armor with similar designs. Dull silver plate armor, no helmet, sword and shield. The only difference was that the young man wore a loose cloak. It was a luxurious and was embroidered with silver thread. The clasps of the cloak had a beast design.

「I heard about it. The appearance of an evil title on the low floors is a unique opportunity for you to raise your reputation. This is the guidance of St. Lyridias. Irvin, I believe that you can do it」

「I’m not worthy of those words, Varner-sama. Though it’s very heartening to hear such words from you, who is regarded as the hero of next generation」

「Hmm, who’s that person over there? A party member?」

「Ye, um, no, he's……… my friend. He’s the leader of another party. There are many things I’m ignorant about, so he has given me advice time and time again」

I would have liked to ignore him if I could, but I had to make Irvin look good.

Turning to face him, I greeted the a-hole that I had run into at the brothel.

「Hello, “pleased to make your acquaintance”, I'm Souya, a mere adventurer」

「Well hello there, “pleased to meet you for the first time”, I’m Varner Karubezzo, a knight of St. Lyridias. Thank you for taking care of my junior」

Varner had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Irvin. He was somewhat unpleasantly handsome, and had straight long hair. He must have tricked naive village girls using that appearance and committed violence against them in secret. He was shorter and less well-built compared to Irvin. Be it his looks, personality, and how he treated women, looking at it as a whole, he couldn’t hold a candle to Irvin.

「Irvin, it's been a while, hasn’t it?」

Next, the rugged knight greeted Irvin.

「I’m glad to see that Luxgaru-sama is also hale and healthy」

「For the next thirty years, I intend to guard him as the hero's knight-companion. But then, I wonder if thirty years is enough for this troublesome hero to stand on his own two feet?」

「Luxgaru, why don't you start today if you want some free time?」

Varner made the suggestion with an expression that didn’t seem like he was joking.

「Surely, you’re joking. As complaints are made to me, I won’t have free time」

Luxgaru replied easily as if he was used to it.

「I’m relieved to see that both of you are the same as ever」

After saying that, Irvin looked around, like he was searching for someone, and then asked them.

「Is that guy, Sanperie, acting separately today?」

「Hmm, that guy is――」

Luxgaru spoke, interrupting Varner.

「Sanperie is missing. On the 13th floor, he acted individually and ran off, got separated, and disappeared just like that」

「Well, he’s probably dead」

「Varner!」

The hero got yelled at angrily for his flippant remark. That attracted the attention of the Guild employees.

「I'm sorry, Irvin. Now that our mission to keep an eye on Neomia has been rescinded, we'll resume the search for him」

「Excuse me for cutting into the conversation, but――」

In place of Irvin, who was stunned, I asked.

「When did that Sanperie-san go missing?」

「60 days ago」

The odds of him being alive were abysmal. There had never been anyone who had spent such a long time in the dungeon.

The record for the longest time was ten days.

「I understand the situation. However, I would like to at least recover his knight's proof and take some of his hair」

「Good grief, he’s a guy who causes trouble for others to the end. Irvin, you were the one who was originally supposed to come with us. With your skills, this probably wouldn’t have happened」

I glared at him for the way he was flippantly shifting the blame.

「Are you the leader of the party?」

「Isn’t that obvious? Who else should take command if not the hero?」

Everything that came out of this guy’s mouth was light. He knew nothing about the pressure or responsibility of leading people.

I continued.

「Then, the loss of your party member is completely your fault. Even if it’s due to his selfish actions, it’s your fault for not being able to stop him. You don’t even know such a simple thing, how dare――――」

「Stop it, Souya」

I shut up after being restrained by Irvin. The hero turned to me with veins popping out on his forehead in anger.

「I apologize for my friend’s rudeness. As for the matter of Sanperie, I beg you for your help. If possible, please return him to his family」

Varner didn’t answer, but Luxgaru did.

「I’ll do everything within my means」

With a click of his tongue, the hero, perhaps in a bad mood, turned on his heels.

As he left,

「About the evil title, I'm expecting great things from you. Depending on your achievements, I’ll give the matter of your sister some thought」

What an aggravating douchebag. At any rate, he’s probably putting pressure on Irvin despite knowing full well that it’s impossible. This effing sex offender No. 2…… By the way, No. 1 is the prince of this country.

With heavy steps, Irvin sat back in his seat, and hunched over. I called a waitress over and ordered salted pork and strong alcohol.

「This Sanperie, what kind of person was he?」

「Hmm? ……………………Oh, he was three years younger than me, and a knight with an ancient and honorable lineage」

The alcohol came, so I poured two cups.

It was an alcohol that made my fingers feel hot just from touching it, but Irvin emptied his cup in one breath. f𝘳𝚎𝐞we𝐛𝑛𝐨𝘃e𝘭.co𝘮

「I'm a child born from marital infidelity, so I was looked down on by the knights, who all had pedigree. He was the only one who would cross swords with me on even terms」

After that, I listened to the story of Sanperie, the knight.

To sum it up, it was a run-of-the-mill story of friendship.

In life, there are many people who look at someone’s birth and position before they look at the person. Conversely, there are those who look at the person before looking at that person’s background. The knight called Sanperie was the latter.

Irvin, a child of marital infidelity, who was raised in a slum.

He had treated him equally without looking at him in a strange way. The man called Sanperie probably fell under the category of special in this world.

Looking up to and studying under Zamonglass, who was well-known for teaching through actual combat, the two of them honed each other’s skills through friendly rivalry. Those skills even caught the eye of the lineage of heroes.

Together they were appointed as knights of St. Lyridias, and their friendship was unwavering.

Of course, even after Irvin's grand-uncle's plan to assassinate the Pope, which had caused him to be stripped of his knighthood, their friendship continued unchanged. Sanperie had pleaded with the Pope, and when that didn’t work, he next urged his own father to adopt Irvin.

In the end, Irvin was exiled from Elysium without getting his position back.

But maybe, Irvin said.

The details were unclear, but from the fact that everyone other than his sister had been executed, it might be because of Sanperie that he had gotten away with only being stripped of his position and exile.

Even now, he regretted not having met him when he left.

Was it a coincidence that he had come here as a companion of the hero?

They should have met if not for the minor differences in the weather and the sea route chosen. If they had met, his fate might have been different.

「Is that so?」

I listened to every single one of Irvin’s stories of the past,

「But this liquor is strong, isn’t it?」

I looked at him, who had been done in by two bottles of alcohol.

He was slumped face down on the table and mumbling something.

The existence known as a close friend has never existed in my life. I was betrayed by a friend who I thought was close, and was abandoned overseas under conditions that felt almost like I was selling myself. If I thought about the fact that those various invaluable experiences were what had kept the current me alive in this world, then they were probably good experiences.

I had properly returned the favor, so I bore no grudges now.

「A friend, huh?」

I could only sympathize with about 20% of Irvin's feelings.

It’s 20% because of the sense of obligation towards party members.

However, we entrust our lives to each other, and this man, who is always standing on the frontlines as our shield, and is currently done in by alcohol in front of my eyes, is probably the very thing called a friend. If it’s for his sake, I’ll do what I can.

「Souya」

「Hmm?」

Before I knew it, Zenobia was standing there.

「What happened to him?」

I narrowed my eyes at Irvin’s disgraceful state.

「Can you help me carry him to his inn?」

「Huh, yeah, that’s fine, I suppose」

I paid the bill and went on our way with Irvin supported on Zenobia and my shoulders.

「Did you guys drink? Even though he’s incredibly weak against alcohol?」

「I hadn't known that」

I had done something bad. But there were also things that people wanted to forget using alcohol.

We delivered Irvin to his inn, which was a short distance away, and I left the rest to Zenobia.

As I was leaving, I left him a message.

Its contents were brief.

We’ll definitely defeat that evil title, it said.

It looked like there was something that she wanted to say, but Zenobia deliberately stayed silent.